Ms Latte’s Daebak Cybercafé (Kdrama Addicts #11)

[boatyardblues]

A quiet corner of MN for serious addicts of Kdrama, or the Kdrama-curious. (MsLatte is a Her Private Life reference.)

Most of our viewing is drawn from Netflix and Viki, with a sprinkling of Dramabus (non subscription, maybe dodgy) and AmazonPrime. 

The previous thread is here but our ‘Addicts Recommend’ list below is cumulative so includes recommendations and favourites from all previous threads. 
Shows marked with asterisk(s) are more uniformly loved or admired. In categorising series, its important to note most Korean dramas have multiple strands - e.g. supernatural, romance and a thriller, crime series with fantasy elements. Genre-busting mash-ups are normal. Series that are tagged as dark may also have moments of comedy or the absurd, likewise fluff can have heavier moments. View the categories below as best approximate & ask if you need guidance, eg about suitability for younger teens.


Comedy (with a side order of absurd)

I picked up a celebrity on the street (Viki)
My Fellow Citizens (Viki)



Crime/Thriller

Come and Hug Me (Dramafast)
Graceful Family (Viki) - potboiler!
Healer (Netflix)*
Heartless City (Viki)

He is Psychometric (Viki)

I Hear Your Voice (Netflix /Viki)

Life on Mars (classy remake of BBC series, Dramafast)
Live (Netflix)

Pride & Prejudice (Netflix)*

Prison Playbook (Netflix)*

Suspicious Partner (Netflix)*
The Lies Within (Netflix)*
Tunnel (Netflix)



Historical/Period drama (“sageuk”)
Crowned Clown (Viki)*
Mr Sunshine (Netflix)
Tale of Nokdu (Viki)*



Romance - lighter & fluffier
Beating Again (Netflix)
Coffee Prince (Netflix)
Don’t Dare to Dream (Netflix, or as Jealousy Incarnate on Viki)*
Gogh, The Starry Night (Viki)

Happy Once Again (Netflix)
Her Private Life (Viki)*

His Master’s Sun (Netflix)

Love from a Star (Netflix)*

Pinocchio (Netflix)
Radio Romance (Netflix)

Romance is the Bonus Book (Netflix)*

She Was Pretty (Dramabus/Netflix)*
The Beauty Inside (Viki/Netflix)
Thirty Not Seventeen (Viki)

Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo (Netflix/Viki)

What’s Up With Secretary Kim (Viki)*

You are my Destiny (Netflix)



Romance - heavier weight/more grown up themes

Another Miss Oh (Netflix)*
Because This Is My First Life (Viki)*

Chicago Typewriter (Viki/Netflix)*
Descendants of the Sun (Viki/Netflix)
Doctors (Netflix)
Fight For My Way (Viki/Drama bus)*

Just Between Lovers (Viki)*
My Strange Hero (Viki)
One Spring Night (Netflix)
Red Carpet - film (Netflix, very adult content)
Search: WWW (Viki)*

Something in the Rain (Netflix)
The Package (Viki)



Supernatural/zombies/vampires/fantasy/sci-fi - lighter & fluffier

Goblin (Viki)*

I am not a Robot (Netflix)
Legend of the Blue Sea (Viki/Netflix)
Orange Marmalade (Netflix)

While You Were Sleeping (Viki)*



Supernatural/zombies/vampires/fantasy/sci-fi - darker/more grown up themes

Black (Netflix)*
Hotel del Luna (Viki)*
Kingdom (Netflix)*

The Guest (Dramafast)
Train to Busan - film (Amazon Prime)

W: Two Worlds (Viki & Netflix)



Guilty Pleasures (for the joy, not the quality)
Hwarang (Viki/Netflix)
The Last Empress (Viki)
Sassy Go Go (Netflix)



Mad as a box of frogs/uncategorisable
Strong Girl Bong Soon (Netflix)


Not Korean but just try it

Regulars occasionally branch out into Japanese, Taiwanese and Chinese drama. The Chinese & Taiwanese stuff is much more variable quality-wise, so we’ve noted anything decent here:

Before We Get Married (Viki - Taiwanese)
Love O2O (Viki - Chinese)
Morning Call (Netflix - Japanese)
Put Your Head on My Shoulder (Netflix - Chinese)

We have some lovely occasional posters with links to Korea who pop in from time to time to provide the context for some of the more baffling cultural references. (Although its possible we have scared them all away since our early threads with the fangirling. If you’re still reading, please say hi.)



We are generally fans of all things Korean, so equally happy to talk about Korean cookery, language, film and music when the mood takes us.



We have a few frequently used acronyms:
FL/2FL = female lead/2nd female lead
ML/2ML = male lead/2nd male lead

SLS = Second Lead Syndrome (where the FL/MLis too dense to realise how much better the 2ML/2FL is)
🥾🍑 (boot, peach) = kick up the arse to go to bed



We also abbreviate titles if they’re long, but usually only after using the full title & acronym together or an obvious abbreviation. Some favourite actors & actresses have been abbreviated for speed/efficiency, eg Lee Jong-Suk (LJS), Park Min Young (PMY), Ji Chang Wook (JCW) and his hotness Kim Jae Wook (HH KJW). Don’t be afraid to ask for help/clues if we’re not making sense or have descended into acronym soup.



If you want to join us down the kdrama rabbit hole, welcome! Pull up a chair, say goodbye to early nights and get stuck in…

I noticed that! Must be ingrained into the very psyche.

Am very much enjoying the new series of Dr Romantic on Viki. It may hold the record for fastest ever shirt removal at 1 min 10secs into episode 1. Unless anyone can beat that, this may need some research 😆

I still maintain that super-buff So Ji Sub climbing into the bath tub naked in Oh My Venus within the first 15 min takes some beating. My Secret Terrius needs to be bought up by Viki or Netflix pronto.

Oh yes! I'm enjoying Dr Kim too! 😂... I thought exactly the same thing! 😂 😂 😂

However FL needs to pick up soon as at the moment I don't like her character at all... Hopefully there will be a spark of sympathy or enlightenment for her soon!... I'm running out of patience!!... I do love Head Nurse though! She was fab in Dr Kim 1!!

Bea yes!! She’s not likeable but obv is going to be in a lerv triangle or quadrangle .

I adore head nurse and also manager doing his Michael Jackson routine and v happy to see Kim Min-Jae lovely voice and all back as the nurse. Hope he gets some happy romance this time

And ML is shaping up to be more interesting in this than he was in Abyss

"I still maintain that super-buff So Ji Sub climbing into the bath tub naked in Oh My Venus within the first 15 min takes some beating"^
^
The above was my very first KDrama watch, since then, no looking back.

I too was an avid French/Spanish and Scandinavia drama watcher. I just got so bored of the predictable plots Hollywood pumped out. Over the holidays we went to the cinema to watch Bombshell with Nicole Kidman. DH nudged me after 20mins in. Seems my snoring was getting too loud 😳

Yes, the unexpected turns in kdrama are usually terrific. The little ‘coda’ snippets of FL’s time in Lausanne in CLOY have been genuinely surprising and very well done.

Anyone else getting impatient for it to be late Saturday afternoon already? Hurry up CLOY!

Yes yes I need to know if the tomato plant has survived!! 🤣

Yes! I'm away with friends this weekend so I don't know if I'll be able to watch 😭. There is WiFi so could poss watch on my phone. But might be a bit anti social.
It might be better to save it till Monday night when I'm home and can watch on a proper TV. But I really really want to watch it!!!
Dilemma!!

The snippet of weeping Hyun Bin in the preview for this weekend’s episodes definitely piqued my interest. Do we think Son Ye Jin will be carted off to NK chokey for reprogramming this week?

Dunno but I am organising my Saturday afternoon around watching it with no one else in the house so I can have it on the tv !

In the meantime I have started 100 Days My Prince on Viki as all the episodes are now up and so far it is very good and engaging - I was going to do a shuffle but think I will stick with this.

Bettys.... snap... i started rewatching last night... i have started and stopped so much with this one... not due to it being not very good but purely i've been distracted with other things... i saw all eps up now so this will be my ongoing one in between CLOY!

I was thinking of adding some other films/dramas to the pre-2019 list. Mostly Korean but would anyone have objections to the few really good/terribly bad ones from other countries?

Go for it. What did you give fatal encounter? It’s on my list to watch. Also I added Live up to your name at bottom

bettys I haven't quite decided but um thinking it's a 7, maybe an 8? It was good but not amazing. Worth a watch though.

Ooh bettys talking about the spreadsheet. You have Who Are You? a 6 but is it Who Are You? or School 2015: Who Are You? which is on Netflix as Who Are You.
I've watched both and don't know whether to add School 2015

Oh well spotted hello!
It’s the Who Are You From 2013 with HH KJW and Taecyeon - heaven forbid there is confusion on the spreadsheet 🤣🤣

hello... You are The Keeper Of the Spreadsheet thus we trust your good judgement! 😂

... Or KOTS for short! 😂 😂 😂

We’re not far off the 1000 post limit so I’ll start the new thread before CLOY tomorrow even if we’re not quite at the limit. That way we can keep all commentary/gushing in one place. Consider this the ‘last orders’ call for updates to the header. 😉

I have no additions, but will definitely be waiting for the gushing! It's definitely been too long waiting two weeks for tomato plant progress!

There’s probably something wrong with me, but I really, really want to see Hyun Bin. He does so many macho/master of the universe corporate bloke/gangster/arrogant chaebol roles that I want to see how well he pulls off vulnerability.

Want to see Hyun Bin cry...

Oh he'll do vulnerability well! He did it very well in Hyde Jekyll and Me.... 👍👍👍... Very angsty!... And tortured! 😊👍😂

Yeah, you’re probably right Bea.